Drug May Solve Bird Flu Crisis

[Pink Mist]

The Advertiser 21/02/04

A drug developed by Australian scientists could provide a cure for the deadly bird flu sweeping Asia.

CSIRO scientists have discovered that Relenza, a drug which has been on the narket for about 5 years, stops the bird flu moving between body cells and eventually kills it.

The discovery could provide the answer to the Asian epidemic which has killed at least 21 people and caused the slaughter of more than 80 million birds.

The CSIRO health and nutricion scientist behind the research, Dr Jenny McKimm-Breschkin said the drug which sells for about $45 and is available world wide was Australia's first line of defence against the killer flu.

[lopburi3]

The Advertiser 21/02/04

A drug developed by Australian scientists could provide a cure for the deadly bird flu sweeping Asia.

CSIRO scientists

The name "The Advertiser" as the source of story does not instill at whole lot of confidence in us folks with no knowledge of oz. Checked "CSIRO" with Google and at least that seems to be a real place.

From reports here in English press that the company would not test this product on bird flu as it already approved for "flu" does seem rather strange however if they are so sure it is effective.

[Pink Mist]

saw some more reports about the drug just recently, will do some more digging.

The Advertiser is Adelaide's daily newspaper.

[Pink Mist]

This is lifted directly from their site at CSIRO link for those who are interested.

the virus

CSIRO based drug effective against bird flu

Drugs based on CSIRO's research into the influenza virus have been shown to be effective, in laboratory tests, against a sample of an H5N1 influenza virus currently infecting chickens in Asia.

CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition scientist, Dr Jenny McKimm-Breschkin, has tested the ability of the flu drug Relenza™ to inhibit the virus, known as H5N1 strain, which has killed millions of chickens in Asia and has been responsible for several human deaths this year.

The tests, used to monitor virus sensitivity to drugs, have shown that the drug Relenza™ is as effective, in laboratory experiments, against this bird flu as it is against other strains of flu that affect humans.

"There is a direct correlation between enzyme sensitivity as measured by these laboratory tests and the ability of the drug to prevent the virus from multiplying," said Dr McKimm-Breschkin.

In 1999, the world's first drug effective against all strains of influenza was released onto the world market. Relenza™ was designed based on CSIRO's discovery that there was a small section on the surface of the influenza virus that doesn't change between strains of flu. Designing a drug to inhibit the action of this part of the virus meant it would be very difficult for the virus to mutate to avoid binding the drug. No drug resistance has been seen globally in any previously healthy patient treated with Relenza™.

Subsequently a second drug, Tamiflu™, was developed based on CSIRO research. Its manufacturers claim that pre-clinical trials provide reassurance that it could be effective against bird flu.

The Asian bird flu has not been shown to be passed from human to human. All those who have died from this disease have caught it directly from infected birds. The current strategy for preventing this virus from spreading further and endangering more humans has been to cull millions of chickens in Asian farms and markets.

"In the event that the disease does mutate into a form which can be passed from human to human it is important to know that we already have a treatment available," said Dr McKimm-Breschkin. "The fact that our experiments show that in the laboratory this Australian designed drug is effective against bird flu again shows just how important a discovery this was."

In order to establish that Relenza™ is effective in humans infected with bird flu, clinical data from humans will be needed.

The same techniques used in the development of Relenza™ are being employed by CSIRO to fight other diseases such as cancer, psoriasis and inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

It should be noted that CSIRO receives a royalty income from sales of Relenza™. The assay results reported here have been conducted independently of the manufacturers of Relenza™.

More information:

Mr Warrick Glynn, CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition,

PH: 61 3 9662 7344, Mobile: 0408 117 846

Email: [email protected]

[hzneurohemin]

in our previous report, we analyzed the current situation and proposed the conclusion that the use of Tamiflu as an alternative treatment during the time gap between the possible human bird flu outbreak in China and outcome of a vaccine was unaffordable and unreachable.

if you are interested, u can check the pdf file on :

bird flu report part V

[Up2U]

OK, this thread seems to approach the drug as being prescribed for human use.

The related thread about smuggling the drug into Thailand indicates that it was intended for use on the chickens.

Could that mutate the strain, rendering the drug useless in later times forhuman use?

Price per dose? Compared to the price of a chicken ?

Why should the use of the drug on chickens make other countries boycott the purchase of Thai chickens, if everything else is OK ? Surely the bird flu virus is killed by the drug, so cannot be passed on through a quarantine zone. But wild birds flying on migratory paths could easily carry the disease.

It all seems lunacy to me.